Provinces of Spain by population

Name: Provinces of Spain by population, 2017
Creator: Instituto Nacional de Estadística
License: INE reuse terms (attribution required)

Madrid province had the highest population of 52 provinces in 2017, at 6.51 million. Ceuta province had the lowest, at 84,959. The median was 611,765 and the figure for Spain was 46.57 million. Source: the Instituto Nacional de Estadística.

Highest6,507,184Madrid province

Lowest84,959Ceuta province

Median611,76552 provinces

Spain46,572,132History

All provinces, 2017

CSV Chart (SVG)

persons. Source: INE. Retrieved 2026-10-07.

Full ranking

Rank	Provinces	2017 persons	Change on 2016
1	Madrid province	6,507,184	+0.6%
2	Barcelona province	5,576,037	+0.6%
3	Valencia province	2,540,707	-0.1%
4	Seville province	1,939,527	-0%
5	Alicante province	1,825,332	-0.6%
6	Málaga province	1,630,615	+0.1%
7	Murcia province	1,470,273	+0.4%
8	Cádiz province	1,239,435	-0%
9	Biscay province	1,148,302	+0.1%
10	A Coruña province	1,120,294	-0.2%
11	Balearic Islands province	1,115,999	+0.8%
12	Las Palmas province	1,100,480	+0.2%
13	Asturias province	1,034,960	-0.7%
14	Santa Cruz de Tenerife province	1,007,641	+0.4%
15	Zaragoza province	953,486	+0.3%
16	Pontevedra province	942,731	-0.2%
17	Granada province	912,938	-0.3%
18	Tarragona province	791,693	-0.1%
19	Córdoba province	788,219	-0.4%
20	Girona province	755,716	+0.3%
21	Gipuzkoa province	719,282	+0.2%
22	Almería province	706,672	+0.3%
23	Toledo province	686,841	-0.3%
24	Badajoz province	679,884	-0.6%
25	Jaén province	643,484	-0.7%
26	Navarre province	643,234	+0.4%
27	Cantabria province	580,295	-0.3%
28	Castellón province	575,470	-0.7%
29	Valladolid province	521,130	-0.5%
30	Huelva province	518,930	-0.1%
31	Ciudad Real province	502,578	-0.9%
32	León province	468,316	-1.1%
33	Lleida province	432,384	-0.4%
34	Cáceres province	400,036	-0.9%
35	Albacete province	390,032	-0.5%
36	Burgos province	358,171	-0.8%
37	Lugo province	333,634	-0.9%
38	Salamanca province	333,603	-0.7%
39	Álava province	326,574	+0.8%
40	La Rioja province	315,381	-0.1%
41	Ourense province	311,680	-1%
42	Guadalajara province	253,310	+0.2%
43	Huesca province	219,702	-0.6%
44	Cuenca province	198,718	-1.2%
45	Zamora province	177,404	-1.7%
46	Palencia province	163,390	-0.8%
47	Ávila province	160,700	-1.1%
48	Segovia province	154,184	-0.9%
49	Teruel province	135,562	-1%
50	Soria province	88,903	-1.3%
51	Melilla province	86,120	+0.1%
52	Ceuta province	84,959	+0.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Resident population. Spain and the EU: 1 January, with Spanish figures from the official municipal register (Padrón). United States: Census Bureau population estimates for 1 July. Other countries and the World: World Bank mid-year estimates, which count all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

For Denmark, Statistics Denmark counts the registered resident population on 1 January. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are excluded. The annual series selects the first-quarter reference date from FOLK1A. The World Bank series exists for every country, so use it (through compare) to rank countries on one basis.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the provinces are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Cifras oficiales de población de los municipios españoles: Revisión del Padrón municipal (tabla 29005). https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=29005. Retrieved 2026-10-07.

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Questions

Which province has the highest population?

Madrid province, with 6.51 million in 2017, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística.

Which province has the lowest population?

Ceuta province, with 84,959 in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Cifras oficiales de población de los municipios españoles: Revisión del Padrón municipal (tabla 29005). Retrieved 2026-10-07.